1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an assistant driving system, and more specifically to a vehicle assistant system with video recognition.
2. The Prior Arts
It has been a crucial topic for the vehicle industry to improve the safety of driving, especially for car. Many vehicle manufactures developed various assistant devices by use of infrared, ultrasonic, microwave, or radio frequency to detect the obstacles around the vehicle, so as to warn or remind the driver of watching the current driving situation. For example, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system is equipped in TOYOTA Camry series to prevent collision with the front car. Another example is Side Assist System, which is used in AUDI series to provide appropriate warning when the car turns to left or right.
However, the effective detection range or working distance for infrared or ultrasonic are short and the detection function is easily interfered by environment noise. The working power of microwave or radio frequency has to be reinforced to increase the detection range such that the health of human is endangered and the manufacturing cost is pretty high. Furthermore, the worst weakness for the above designs is that generally only one target (a car, passenger or any object on the road) is monitored, and some nonmetal objects are not detected, such as lane signs on the road or plastic obstacles.
Moreover, most advanced central control systems equipped in the car provide the images of front, back, left and right sides to display on a display device installed at the front-right side of the driver to assist in handling the driving information, such as multiple sub-images on one screen used in LUXGEN series or BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) in VOLVO S40 series. However, the driver has to simultaneously monitor three rearview/side mirrors and one screen during driving, and tends to become dizzy. It is possible to increase the risk of driving, especially for those drivers with slow response to the abrupt or emergent situation. Therefore, it is desired to provide a vehicle assistant system with video recognition showing one single image without monitoring all rearview/side mirrors so as to overcome the drawbacks in the prior arts.